Textured Ceiling/Ghosting/Ceiling Crack

If you tape and mud you need it smooth at least a couple inches around the patch so you can get it smooth over the tape.Then you can texture it with compound after it's dry.After the ceiling is fixed a coat of BIN and 2 coats of flat ceiling paint and it will look nice.Roll it the same as you would do a wall all in the same direction.You will need to stop the cause of the "ghosting" though, or it may happen again.

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Textured Ceiling/Ghosting/Ceiling Crack

MissKitty, please, listen to me. We spend hours on this forum discussing dealing with and recreating texture, and I think the tone of those discussions is pessimistic. No offense but texture recreation is difficult for pros who work with the tools everyday let alone for a homeowner.
That crack looks to be about 16-18 inches long, so by the time you get done patching it with tape, to effectively feather it out, the whole patch should be about 12 wide and 24+ long. If you can't effectively reproduce that texture, perfectly, you'll have a one by two foot defect on your ceiling, instead of that little crack. And that will be after hours and hours of frustrating effort, trust me.
That little crack, which doesn't look like a typical stress crack to me, will be practically invisible in the scheme of things. Work some caulk into the crack and use some to soften the ridge, let it dry, roll the BIN, roll two coats of flat and that won't be an issue. If it opens a bit later on, just put a little more caulk in and touch it up. Please, again, don't make a mountain out of a mole hill.
A full out tape and mudding for that crack is unnecessary and will be a mistake.

On BIN, yes it's an off white and will seal the ghosting. By the way, do live close to a major highway?

Textured Ceiling/Ghosting/Ceiling Crack

Jsheridan, thanks, I trust what you are saying and will do just the caulk and BIN and two coats of paint. I think I asked before but how much texture will disappear or how much will the ceiling flatted out by adding the BIN and two coats of paint? I realize it won't be smooth.

I wouldn't say we live near a major highway BUT it does get a good amount of traffic for our area. I live in upstate NY...about 45 mins south of the Canadian border. The road we live on is a State Highway. The house does not sit close to the road and we are actually up on a hill.

I am really not sure what caused the ghosting. This is a 1940s house and I am assuming the insulation in the walls could be better. It is clapboard siding and we would like to put up vinyl siding someday...sigh. There is a fireplace in this room and we do not use it now but it was used previously. We have a pellet stove in use in this room and occasionally, but not very often, we use the boiler...we have radiators in every room. The ghosting is on the walls and celing in this room, only in the ceiling in the kitchen which is directly off this room and on two of the three bedroom ceilings but not the walls in any other room besides this one. There is a room down cellar that MAY or MAY NOT have been used to store coal for heating purposes...we are not sure. There are mines within a half mile from our house...talc and zinc mines which are bare bones running now. This house was built by the miners and used as a rental house for those who were employed by the mines in its heyday. This house sat vacant for a couple years...I believe...before we acquired it. We have had it 8 years and as my hubby was a bachelor for 6 of those 8 years he did not take the time to fix anything up within the house until I came along...haha...lucky for him.

Textured Ceiling/Ghosting/Ceiling Crack

Whether you do a quick fix or not is completely up to you.The texture will be the same with the BIN and paint.It won't hide any of it.I'm pretty sure the ghosting is because of venting issues with the fireplace and stove.There are numerous articles online about ways to remedy the ghosting.Whatever you decide...I hope it turns out well and and you get results you can live with.Good luck to you.

Textured Ceiling/Ghosting/Ceiling Crack

Thanks MsKitty, You know I trust and respect my fellows here on the forum, but I respectfully disagree. They're not wrong. Had the ceiling been smooth, I would have taped it, and recommended as much to you. No big deal. But every job has to be approached from a practical standpoint. In this case the deal is reversed, the investment is big and the return is minuscule, and possibly a major blunder.

Considering paint is measured in mils, thousands of an inch, mils in the single digits, three coats of paint is not going to do anything to "smooth" the ceiling. The flat paint will not reflect light and the ceiling will have a more subdued look and the lack of reflection will help to mask any defects or irregular surfaces, of which textured ceiling have much.

I asked about the highway because I have a customer who lives near a major highway, uphill, and their house filters all the soot out of the air. They have no source of soot that can account for ghosting in one room and all the blackened edges of white rugs throughout where the carpet edge filters the soot out of the air sucked from under the baseboard. The ghosting in one room actually looks like an x-ray of the studs, the walls and angled ceilings are actually striped black. It's more than ghosting. I tried to bring what was going on with it to their attention, but they weren't interested. That's the room their daughter sleeps in, but they biatch about my smelling like a cigarette. You tell me about priorities. Good Luck.

Textured Ceiling/Ghosting/Ceiling Crack

I've read a lot of articles online about ghosting and I don't understand it all but am going to keep researching to see if I can figure out what is going on in our house because I would spaz if we painted and it came back!!!

I am glad the ceiling is just textured and not the popcorn, not that I think texture is the best either. As big as this room is I couldn't imagine scraping down popcorn but I can deal with the texture as it isn't super high and I think the flat paint will help too.

Textured Ceiling/Ghosting/Ceiling Crack

Sorry for reposting in this old thread but since I started it and it is for the same issue....

I decided not to use BIN on the textured ceiling because I don't think I can handle the watery, stinky, mess. I am leaning toward using BM High-hiding All Purpose Acrylic (046) and then a ceiling paint by BM (I think I saw an ULTRA Flat one). My question is what roller (nap thickness) should I use? Also, would it be worth re-texturing? I think someone mentioned in an earlier post that it looks like a texture that was painted on....and not done very well....should I do it again? I realize some spots may still appear more "textured" than others.